How to Build an Easy DIY Couch Armrest Table Tray
Every single time I show the corner of my living room I get people asking where I got the tray that is sitting on the armrest of my sofa. It’s something I made for our couch years ago and it’s honestly so handy! I also made one for my mom, and she has been asking me to make her another one. So I thought I would make us both new ones, and document the process so that I can share with you how to build a DIY couch table tray!
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If you find yourself precariously balancing your drink or your popcorn bowl on the arm of your sofa, this is going to be a huge upgrade! Sometimes there is no room to put an end table and the coffee table is just way too far away, am I right?
I made this DIY couch table tray in an afternoon and stained and finished the wood the next day. It’s a quick and easy project!
Wood Materials and Cost for the DIY Couch Table Tray
The cost of this project is going to depend on the type of wood you use. The first time I did it, I used a price of project pine, which is pretty inexpensive. You can pick up pine boards for this project for about $10 and that should give you enough wood to make one or two!
Pine is notoriously difficult to stain, so when I was wandering around the hardware store I was drawn toward the nicer hardwoods like maple and oak, but they didn’t have any wide solid wood boards in my store.
I came upon (by accident really) the stair section and noticed that they had thick oak stair treads for around $30 which would give me enough solid oak to make two tables! Perfect!
You can use ANY wood for this that has the right dimensions. Salvaged or scrap wood, pine project boards, you could even cut up some old cutting boards! The cost of the project will depend on the wood you choose.
For my project, I made two tables out of a $30 stair tread and I had the rest of the supplies on hand, so my cost was around $15 each! If you need to buy glue, stain, and nails you will have to factor that in as well.
This project uses basic tools and is a great project for beginners! I’ve listed those below along with the supplies I used:
- Stair Tread (or wood of your choice) (The one I linked here is 11.5 inches but the one I found in store was 10.5 inches but both will work!)
- Measuring Tape
- Miter Saw
- Jig Saw (optional)
- Sander
- Wood Conditioner
- Stain
- Top coat
- Brad Nailer/ nails (I have a brad nailer that works with a compressor but this one is cordless)
- Clamps
Simple Steps to a DIY Couch Table Tray
Step 1 – Plan Your Project
This Project works best if your sofa’s arms are square and flat. Measure the width of the arm of your couch.
Decide how long you want the side pieces to “hang down”.
On the DIY sofa arm table, I made previously, my side pieces were about 7 inches. This time, I wanted to make sure I had enough wood from my single tread to make two arm tables, so I cut the wood in half first and just made the side pieces as long as I could while using up all the wood.
It does not really matter how long the sides are, it’s up to your personal preference but I think they should be at least about 4″ long to make sure the DIY couch table tray sits on there securely. I think I prefer the look of the shorter arms.
My side pieces ended up being only about 5-1/2″ long which works just fine!
Step 2 – Cut the Width of the Board, If Needed
Since I am using a stair tread, one side of my board is rounded so I wanted to cut that off. I used a table saw to cut it.
If your board is the width that you want, you may not need to cut anything. The trays I made in the past were about 12″ wide, and I found that to be a good width to hold a cup of coffee, the remote controls, and lately, my reading glasses (yeah I’m of that age now!)
I used a table saw to cut my board to the right width, but if you don’t have one, you could also use a circular saw and a guide to cut the width or even a jigsaw.
Step 3 – Cut the Pieces out for the DIY Couch Table Tray
Next, cut the top piece for the table top. Cut the wood on one side on a 45-degree bevel. Measure from the inside corner of that cut and mark the other inside corner the dimensions of your sofa arm that you measured in step one. To make sure it fits, add about 1/4″.
Now you should have a piece that looks like this.
Now you are going to cut the shorter pieces that hang down. Cut one side at a 45-degree bevel, and leave the other end square.
Use that piece to mark and cut a side piece for the opposite side, the exact same.
Make it Fancy – Optional!
The last time I made these I didn’t do anything special to them, they were just rectangles nailed together and they worked and looked just fine! But this time I wanted to up the anti just a little bit so I decided to make the bottom pieces a little special.
I first cut a piece of paper and played around on SketchUp, I was able to draw a template that fit nicely across the width of my tray.
Once I was happy with that, I traced it onto the bottom edge of the side pieces.
If you have a board that is 10″ wide as well, you can download my PDF template below and it will fit just right.
I used a jig saw to cut those out and then sanded everything nice and smooth using my orbital sander.
The oak was super hard to cut compared to pine. I guess that’s why they call it hardwood! The scallops looked like junk when I first cut them out and I thought I had ruined them.
But a couple hours of sanding and two numb hands later, I had some pretty cute scallops!
What I found worked best was to re-draw my scallops onto the wood I had cut out with the jigsaw and then use the sander to sand down to the line.
For my mom’s tray, I was tired of sanding so I decided to just round the corners a little so I used my template to just mark the corner.
Step 4 – Assemble the DIY couch table tray
Believe it or not, you are almost done!
Add some wood glue to the bevelled parts and stick the pieces of wood together.
I used a few brad nails to hold it in place while the glue dried. I only added two nails per side because once the glue dries, it will be very strong and I wanted to minimize the amount of holes in this.
Wipe the excess glue, clamp the piece together tightly and let dry.
You might want to give the table a little test fit to make sure it fits your arm width before you finish it!
Step 5 – Finishing the Tray
Now for the finishing touches! Sand the piece all over, and fill the corners if necessary with a little wood filler. Tip: If you put a little glue in the crack before you sand it, the sawdust will stick to the wet glue and when you stain, you will have a wood filler that perfectly matches the wood!
Use wood conditioner and then stain the piece your desired colour I like a dark stain (to match my heart) and I used Minwax Jacobean.
Follow the directions on the can before topping with a top coat. I used polyacrylic in a matte finish and did three coats, as I wanted to ensure that the finished sofa table holds up to spills and tabletop use.
Have a Beverage and Enjoy your DIY Couch Table Tray!
Sit back, relax and enjoy your favourite beverage perfectly stable on your new sofa arm table! This really is an easy DIY project and if you make it yourself, you can customize it to be the right size for your sofa. It is really the perfect solution!
The DIY couch table tray I made for my mom with the rounded edges turned out pretty cute too! It was quicker to make this one as there wasn’t so much cutting and sanding of the detailed bottom edge.
If you want to keep it simple, don’t worry about cutting out the shapes on the bottom edges like I did on mine, it will still be very functional and look great! This is a great project to start out with building and to gain some confidence, so give it a shot and let me know if you make one!
Very cute! Now, if only my sofa had square arms.
Looks great – I love that you thought of using a stair tread. Thanks for sharing this – I’ll have to give it a shot.
Thanks Mary! Yes I think the square arms are kind of key 🙂
Thanks so much Leslie! Let me know how it goes!